Game.



Ma 28 I90I. No. 675,273. ci w.- FULLER. Patented y l GAME.

(Application le'd Aug. 80, 1900.) (No Model.)

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CLARENCE w. FULLER, oE wALToN, NEW YORK.

GAME.

SPEGIFICATIONfo'rming part of Letters Patent No. 675,273, dated May 28,1901.

Application filed August 30,1900. Serial N'o. 28.527. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE W. FULLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Walton, in the county of Delaware and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Games; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain improvements in games for amusement. Ita'ords means for entertainment and recreative diversion or pastime formindand body.

It consists, stated generally, of a suitablyimprovised surface,preferably a cloth-covered board with certain indicia thereon and havingball-receiving,receptacles or pockets at certain intervals andwickets,&o. arranged with relation to said pockets or receptacles,together with a playing or finger ball and numbered balls or spheres,all substantially as hereinafter more fully disclosed, and, pointed outby the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the preferred embodiment ofmy invention, Figure 1 is a plan view. Fig. 2 is a vertical section.Figs. 3, 4,'and 5 are detail views disclosing more particularly theconstruction of the pockets or receptacles which receive the numberedballs. Fig. 6 is a'sectional View showing amodi'fied form of securingthe pocket material to the curved supportingplate thereof.

Latitude is allowed herein as to details, as they may be varied orchanged at pleasure without ldeparting from the spirit lof my inventionandthe same yet rem ain intact and be protected.

In carrying out my invention I improvise a suitable surface, which maybe a circular (preferably cloth-covered) board l, with a surrounding rimor flange 2 standing a suitable distance thereabove and having securedto its inner surface a cushion 3, preferably of felt and triangular incross-section, to receive the impact of and impart to the balls therequired rebound to preventtheir deflection from the board in playinglthe game.

At certain intervals and radii from the center o f the board aredisposed ball-receiving receptacles or pockets 4, of suitable material,

as network or cloth, depending preferably through openings in the boardat the rim or ange thereof. These pockets or receptacles are eachpreferably secured in place by suitably infolding the upper edge of thepocket material over the upturned and infolded lower or inner edge of apreferably semicircular or curved sheet-metal plate 4.a, with its bottomor lower edge resting upon the surface of the board and its endsconformed as at 4h and secured to the inner surface of the rim or ange2. This arrangement, it will be seen, provides for the effectivesecuring of the pocket material in place without the aid of otherfastenings, and yet said material is not exposed to the sharp edge ofthe plate, as it otherwise would be. Also these pockets or receptacleshave entrances or wickets 4, the framing or wires forming which arepreferably passed at their adjoining vertical portions through rubberballs or cushions 4, uniting the same and relieving concussion andliability of impairing either the balls or wickets in event of contacttherewith as said balls are shot through said wickets or solidlystriking said wickets in failing of passage therethrough.

At l certain points on the surface of the board, preferably as shown, isan outer arrangement of suitably-designated points, as 6, which may becolored or painted spots thereon, and within or interiorly of saidarrangement of points or Lspots is a similar arrangement of points orspots 7, preferably four, forming the angles of a quadrangle.

YAlternating these wickets are what I please to call wickets 8, andcentrally of this latter arrangement of points or spots and wickets iswhat may be termed, in the absence of a more appropriate name, a cage9,-arranged, preferably, at the very center of the board.

For convenience and facility in playing the game the board l may berotatably mounted upon a suitable pedestal or stand 10 in any well-knownWay, preferably as shown, a stud or pivot l0a being fixed toanddepending from the board at its center and let into a socket l()b ofsaid stand.

It will be noted that the arrangement of two of the wickets 8 withrelation to the cage 9 is such that they are in alinement with oppositearms of said cage and that the two other wickets S are in alinement withthe two other arms of said cage, also that the groupspots 7 arearranged, together with the cage 'and wickets, in a general obliqueposition upon the board, and that the arrangement of the cue or fingerball spots 6 is such that two of them are in the same oblique line withtwo of said wickets and that the other two of said finger-ball spots arein the same diagonal line with the other two of said wickets.

In Fig. G is shown a modification of the fastening for the inner edge ofthe pocket material, or that edge presented toward the board is tuckedup between the upward infolded portion of the semicircular securingplatewith a tack or brad driven through the double thickness or walls of saidplate thus formed and the interposed pocket material.

In playing the gaine a number of persons may singly, or several evenlyon each side, engage. Thirteen balls are preferably employed, twelvebearing numbers and arranged in groups of three at each point or spot 7,while the remaining or finger ball is placed at any one of the points orspots 6 the initial player may elect to play from, it being struck bythe finger or mallet or cue in the hand of the player. The ultimate aimis of course to deliver the numbered balls into the pockets 4;. Toeffect this, the playeror players firing or striking the finger-ballfrom the selected spot or point G aims first to propel his ball againstthe farthest group of balls at 7, the propelling anyone of which into apocket counting whatever it is numbered. In event of failure to hit anyone of said group of balls, but effecting the passage of the numberedball through a wicket S, the count is doubled, or through the cage 9 itis triplicated. If the ball is propelled through either a wicket or cageand into a pocket, the score is triplicated or quadruplicated,respectively, as the case may be. In event or whenever the finger-ballgoes into a pocket a discount of five for each such occurrence standsagainst the player, who also forfeits his shot, though all the pointsmade by the player at the time count. Vlienever the finger-ball drops orgoes into al pocket, it is returned to an outside spot G, as at thestart, and may be shot from there in any direction. The game may beplayed until seventy-five counts are made, the one making that numberbeing the winner, or thirty counts may be the aggregate number to beplayed, and the exact ultimate score may be made. In effecting a greaterscore than the ultimate count to be made the player is required to playthe game over. Any playercan continue to playas long as he makes ascore. Thus it is apparent the game is highly amusing and recreative aswell as instructive and entertaining.

I-Iaving thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a game of the character described, a board having a series ofpockets, each pocket having a series of wickets provided with a seriesof rubber balls or cushions, said wickets arranged in a line around theedge of the pockets, substantially as set forth.

2. In a game of the character described, a board having a cage, a seriesof wickets arranged in an oblique position upon said board, as shown,two of said wickets arranged in alinement with two of the arms of saidcage and the remaining wickets arranged similarly to the other arms ofsaid cage, substantially as set forth.

3. In a game of the character described, a board having a cage, a seriesof wickets arranged in an oblique position upon said board, as shown, atits center, and a series of cue or finger ball spots arranged thereon insuch position that two of them are in the same oblique line with two ofsaid wickets and the remaining two occupy a like position o1`i'elationto the remaining wickets, substantially as set forth.

et. In a game of the character described, the board having a series ofpockets, each comprising a curved metal plate upturned from its loweredge and overlapped upon the infolded pocketmaterial, said plateconformed at its ends and fastened to the inner surface of the rim ofsaid board, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CLARENCE XV. FULLER. iVitnesses:

WESLEY ELLIS, EDWIN L. GUILD.

